Coldheart Canyon (Clive Barker)

Title: Coldheart Canyon

Sub-Title: A Hollywood Ghost Story

Author: Clive Barker

Released: 2001

Rating: 4/6

Basic Plot:
The story begins in Romania during the 1920s, where poverty and disease run rampant. American talent agent Willem Zeffer and the Romanian-born actress he represents, Katya Lupi, have traveled there in order to visit Katya's relatives. Zeffer visits an old medieval castle which has been turned into a monastery and decides to buy a unique work of art, a series of sculpted and painted tiles depicting, in a grotesque and obscene manner, the local legend of a Count who was cursed to haunt the nearby wilderness for all eternity.

The second part of the story begins in the year 2000, when failing movie star Todd Pickett decides to undergo plastic surgery to make himself look younger as prelude to his professional comeback. Something goes wrong during the surgery, and Todd, now disfigured, is forced to go into hiding during his recovery. His agent selects Katya Lupi's former home, an abandoned house in Coldheart Canyon, a secluded area outside Hollywood, where Todd soon discovers that Katya and her "subjects" still hold court.
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First Clive Barker Novel
I've been meaning to get into Clive Barker for a long time. I am a big horror fan and he's a very well known horror writer. Because of my friend Tabby, I decided to start off with this novel. This is her favorite Barker book so I thought that that was a good way to decide which of his novels to start off with. I must say publicly that I thank her for bringing this book to my attention.

Most Painful Death
I don't like to give spoilers in my written reviews but this occurs so close to the beginning that it's not a big spoiler. Dempsey, Todd's dog, dies. I can fake cry really well. I can fool people into thinking I'm having a breakdown. I was reading part of this scene to revrezner doing a fake cry and he was fooled. I think he gave me a little fist bump on the shoulder (I can't remember fully). But then as I continued to read it I actually was starting to cry. This was the only time I IMed Tabby saying: Why did you do this to me?!

The Complexity
I loved the twists and turns in the book. You think it's going to be only so big of a story and then it keeps expanding. I think the complexity of the finished novel surprised even Barker himself. Which is hilarious to me as I may have had similar experiences in the past. I did hope that something more would happen with Katya than actually did and I'm sure some people are titling their heads at that statement.

Final Thoughts
I wanted Tammy to end up with Todd's agent. But that didn't happen. When you first meet Tammy you won't see why I love this character so much. There were some really erotic scenes in this book but the horror and violence overpowers them. Nothing against sex scenes, I write smutt myself, but when I read a novel I like there to be a plot and to care about the characters. All in all, I loved this book and will be reading more by him in the future.